Hello, Im glad to find this site, very nice! I recently bought a used Putsmeister 27m pump truck with the "C" type system. I have 2 basic questions to ask. 1) How do you prime the system? We use 1 bag of cement mixed with a bit of water. It seems to work ok, but wonder if there is a cheaper method. 2)Cleaning this truck we push a ball in at the top of the "C" pipe and push it with water. This seems to work but is this the best way? Thanks for any assistance. We are in East Africa and there is absolutely no experienced help here.

The way you are priming is just fine , if you got to add more pipes then add more bags of cement - simple! Best way is to add the primer to either a priming port in the deck line (if you have one?) or the access port on the trunk, just tipping it into the hopper is a bit hit and miss.  As for a cheaper way, you can prime with just water BUT it depends on your mix and set-up.  Try filling the hopper to the top of the heel plate (the small wear plate in the rear of the hopper) with water, then set the pump running in pump while you gently feed in the first bit of concrete, once the water has gone  fill the hopper right up and open the throttle to about two thirds. Should go straight thru. Best off using this way on boom and flex set ups.

As for washout try sticking the ball in the other end and putting the pump in reverse to suck it back, then wash the hopper etc with the truck hose, uses less water this way.

 have you driven a pump before?

if possible keep useing cement to prime the boom, 1/2 a bag should be ample for a 27M and should be a pancake mix slump.  shoot a little bit of water ahead of your primer and there should be any problems.  never seen a C valve in person so im not sure were the best spot to have the grout/prime port would be.

for cleaning the pipe, pump out the hopppertill you get air shots coming out.  ***WARNING***  pump at a normal/reasonable speed until you get your first couple air shots so the drop hose dosn't whip on you.  to each his own how you go from here, i take off the drop hose (and reduser if im useing one)  put a pail of water and then the spong in the tip 90. suck the spong back at an easy speed and you should be good for the next job?

good luck out there and post some pic if you can.

I suck two sponges back, with five gallons of water in between. If your pipes are clean inside, your priming will be much easier. Cement works great till you get experience, to try water.

Hey thanks for the tips. Im not sure if what this port hole is called on the "C". Sorry this pic was taken with my cell phone. Right now we are training a guy who is pretty decent, but still no experience.

The Meister from the side. Also, we are starting to get tons of work and requests for a higher boom. We had a company called Jun Jin contact us but I dont know much about them. They have the "S" type pump and apparently some other companies use their systems, and slap a new name on it. Anyone used one before? Thanks again.

The port you have circled on the picture is on what we call the trunk (named after putz elefant!). you use this to either prime with at the start  or at the end of the day when you suck back, you turn the cap round to stop the ball being chopped up, then wash the trunk downwards from here, pushing the hose right down ( mind you dont chop the end off!!) with the pump in reverse. when the water comes out clear the trunk should be clean, give the bottom end of the trunk in the hopper a couple of clouts with a hammer and it will free out any build up from inside. you should get a ring sound, if its a dull thud then you have build up. One little thing - remember to give it several strokes in reverse before takin the cap off!!!!

on a seperate note- get youself some decent timber pads made up for the outriggers!!!!!

you need  new spike welding to the cap to stop the ball when you turn it around

it my short career of boom pumping, the custumer is alway looking for a longer boom that pumps faster.  cheaper to buy more new hose and see how it goes before dashing into a new biger pump, just my opinion.  i going to nit pick at you too so dont feel i being an ass hole.  buy your self 3 sheets of good ply wood.  cut into 2ft x 2ft squares.  screw 6 2ft x 2ft squares together and you shall have a proper pad for the outrigger feet.  if you find some 4"x4" (or biger) lengths of lumber on site, politly ask a carpenter to borrow his skill saw and cut the lenght to 4ft.  ground looks soft where your at.  will not make any money to get a new pump if you aint keepin em tire side down :)

played with jun-jins for almost 2 years.  they pump the mud and were pretty straight forward pump to maintain and repair.  its not a putz or schwing, still gets the job gone.

Not 100%, that does look to be the prime/grout port.

keep em coming DBC1

Rig looks pretty good and if it makes you a living then take care of it because as soon as you turn your back it will bit you in the ass. From your picture it looks like a prime port for keeping your prime in front of your conrete which is the first rule for priming. Make sure whatever your using to prime you pump out with wether cementwith water or just plain water all you have to remember is prime is nothing but a lubricant for your pipes,a coating to help slide the mud threw. You can use alot of things to prime, such as (water cement, oil used or new, soap, slurry, slic pac, bednite). All should be mixed with water. Try putting your prime in first and take a couple of strokes to push the prime in front of the concrete, then add the mud. Making sure your slump or wetness of the mud is right. Throttle up, turn your storkes up and pump. If you prime a little fast you'll have less chance of seperating the mud or pluging the pump.  Another thing on washing out try to see if your pump can pump water. With no mud in it. If you push water out the end of your boom then you can do what we call WATER WASH. It will clean the boom and hopper in one shot. All thats left is some rocks in  the bottom of the hopper. Once you get water out the end of your boom throw your pump in reverse and suck al the water back into you hopper. Then just wash out. It should only take a hopper full of water maybe a little more. You can use the mixers water and probaly with yours you'll have enough. Good luck and I hope it helps. Pumpers unite worldwide.......

Wow thanks for all the tips. I will get some decent pads tomorrow. You may laugh a bit, but around here there is no such thing as a skil saw. Im from the states and came here to help, but its so primitive.Im still in culture shock. The business is doing very well and we are adding another pump, so thats why we are looking into Jun Jin. So far I have only cleaned going forward, but sucking the H2O back into the hopper sounds good. Sounds like Im doing most of it right, and thats a good thing. We had the PTO shaft break on us last month, I think because of hard pumping. Its fixed now but took about 3 weeks to fix. So now we take it nice and slow,LOL. Hey thanks for all the tips guys. DBC

DBC If you need any help with it mail me any time 

Not sure how I missed this post. That is a very nice machine for your neck of the woods!! Glad to hear that you are getting some proper outrigger pads. And like was posted, if you suspect the ground is soft and your pads will sink, then add extra 'dunnage' -timbers to cover more area. With a smaller pump like hat, the weight over the outrigger isn't nearly as high as a larger machine, but you still need to pay attention to it. Do you have the proper sponge balls, or sponge cubes for clean-out? Also for priming, you can get packages of slick-pack (a generic term) for priming. it is a powder that readily dissolves in water and gels up to provide lubrication ahead of the concrete. You can likely get away with using half or a third of a bag at a time, I could use half with a 36 meter. It needs to be the consistency of, for lack of a better word, snot - albeit runny. EWWWW! Also the longer it has to sit, the thicker it will get - to a point.